FrostyWooldridge's Blog

By Frosty Wooldridge

 

Have you ever been accused of having too much fun?  Ever ride a motorcycle into a great adventure?  Ever felt like you’re so happy you can’t see straight?  “Well pilgrim,” John Wayne said, “it’s high time we rode over that mountain pass to see what’s on the other side!”

 

Last weekend, William, Rebecca, Jim, Lisa and Frosty connected at the cut on I-70 west bound.  Shinny bikes!  Lots of leather!  Smiling faces!  Great expectations!

 

“Do I know any of you strangers?” I asked while shaking hands. 

 

“Will we want to know you after this ride might be a better question?” Jim said, cracking a smile.

 

With a full sun rising over the eastern plains, we headed up the Interstate with great expectations.  We aimed our bikes west into the mountains.  Spring green popped up everywhere with aspens in full regalia.  Green shoots exploded out of the lodge pole pines covering mountain flanks like a luxurious blanket.

 

Up into cooler air!  Up into snow-capped peaks! Up over Loveland Pass through the tunnel.  Ten miles down into the valley over the Blue River!  Up again along a white water river out of Copper Mountain.  Up again over Vail Pass!  We powered our bikes into long sweeping serpentine curves with a hint of icy wind. 

 

Around us, amazing beauty with aspen, pines, rivers, rocks, hawks soaring and life pulsing in that green mountain majesty! 

 

We returned to the road on our way toward Glenwood Springs’ Strawberry Festival. 

 

After making our way through brilliant red rock canyons, we flew across several valleys until we entered rugged Glenwood Canyon along the Colorado River.  As we roared into it, the river boiled beside us with rapids and white-water raging from spring runoff.  Sheer cliffs rose vertically from the road. 

 

We cruised into the turns, throttled into the straight-aways and soared over the river like eagles!  So much beauty!  So many blessings!  I’ve traveled through that canyon hundreds of times in 35 years—never the same and always astounding!

 

Quick exit into Glenwood!  We ran right up on the beginning of the parade. We parked the bikes and stood with thousands of people waiting for the “Strawberry Festival”.  Wow! 

 

Clowns, small cars, antique vehicles, 57 Chevys, fire engines, marching bands, Ompa Bands, Miss Colorado,  Bob Shaffer running for US Senate shook our hands, El Jebel guys on their scooters, kids throwing out candy, babies crying, children laughing, “I love a parade”, and 4-H!   Way too much fun!

 

After the parade, we sat down at the famous “19th Street Diner” with Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, the Beatles, John Wayne and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” featuring Brando, Monroe, Presley and James Dean.  Inside, sparkling vinyl booths, milk shakes and a sign over the counter: “It’s all Good!”  Also, Monroe with her white dress flying up!  Another poster showing a 57 Chevy and a 58 Pontiac going in opposite directions side by side with a guy and girl poked out of the back windows to catch a kiss!  Classic!

 

Off to the antique car show at the festival fair grounds!  Yahoo! I loved the Corvettes, Jags, 58 Chevy Impala and 40 other ‘hot’ old cars along with 65 Mustangs and 34 Coups.  Amazing that your eyes remember your youth through the viewing of those old cars.  

 

We walked over to the tents with ‘things’ to buy as in jewelry, art, décor, paintings, photographs, eating, strawberry pie tasting, all you can eat contests, music, people and SO much more!

 

“Step right up and get your fortune read,” a lady said.  “See your future!”

 

Soon, we reached the burning desert of Utah. At Cisco, exit 214, we headed south along the Colorado River Canyon for a 35 mile ride into paradise.

 

In the meantime, we enjoyed stunning 1,000 foot red/tan vertical cliff walls rising up from the roiling Colorado River—red with dirt and heavy spring snow melt!  We felt like riding through a can of angleworms with not a 100 yards of straight pavement.  The road twisted, turned, dropped, jumped, dived, rose and fell at the whim of the terrain.  Giant spires shot skyward in front of us for more pictures to be taken! 

 

Soon, near sunset, we hit Moab, Edward Abbey Country!  We gassed up and hit a Mexican Café’ for a fantastic dinner with conversation about a fabulous day on our bikes.  “Good grub,” Jim said.  “I’m hungry.”  An hour later, we headed out to Canyonlands to find a campsite.

 

Around 10:30 p.m., under a starlit sky, we turned left and drove down two red dirt tracks to a special campsite on the edge of Canyonlands.  Overhead, a never ending night sky featured millions of stars. After we pitched our tents, we enjoyed a pumpkin-colored moon rise up over the canyon walls.

 

“How would you describe it?” I asked Rebecca.

 

“Fabulous, awe inspiring,” she said.

 

“William?” I said.

 

“Nothing like being out in the middle of nowhere,” he said, “and camp under a night sky like this.  Total wonder!”

 

Robert Service said of such beauty, “They have cradled you in custom, they have primed you with their preaching, they have soaked you in convention and comfort through and through; They have put you in a showcase;  you’re a credit to their teaching; but can’t you hear the Wild? It’s call you! 

 

“Let us probe the silent places, let us seek what luck betides us; Let us journey to a lonely land I know.  There’s a whisper on the night-wind, there’s star agleam to guide us, and the Wild is calling, calling…let us go.”

 

Next morning, we found some picnic tables on the canyon rim and enjoyed a fantastic breakfast of oat meal, scrambled eggs, bagels, hot chocolate and conversation. 

 

Later, we took our time riding to the end where we stopped at “The Grand View.”  Wow! What an amazing sight!  Stunning rock formations stretched for miles. 

 

Later, we took more photographs and rode the bikes along the mesa.  Great valleys and canyons cut away from the road.  Every curve provided cactus, pinion trees, grasses, flowers and, above us, blue sky.  William and Rebecca powered their bikes into paradise.  I followed!

 

We sped away from Canyonlands with many memories as we headed our machines toward Arches National Park. 

 

We powered the bikes up a large snaking canyon road into Arches.  In the next two hours, we sped by “Park Avenue”; “The Three Gossips”; “Petrified Dunes”; “Court Towers”’; “Balanced Rock”; “Garden of Eden”; “Delicate Arch”; “Landscape Arch”; “Natural Bridges”, “The Choir” and other geological wonders.

 

Abbey, a ranger in the park in the 50s, said, “We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it.  We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope; without it, the life of the cities would drive all men into crime or drugs or mental illness.”

 

Well into the afternoon, after many photographs, we faced a six hour drive back to Denver.  We gassed up not only with petrol, but with memories, of laughter, of good food, of sights seen, of the open highway and our two wheeled steeds.  We clicked the bikes into gear, let out the clutches, turned the throttles and headed into the wind.

 

“Engines roaring, faces smiling,

We travel that highway through time;

Wheels rolling, minds probing,

The answers there are to find.

My friends and I, we travel far,

A spirit shared by two,

By a glimmering fire or a shimmering lake,

The feelings felt are true.

With ups and down that come our way,

Like mountains high and valleys low,

Each we take with a smile because inside we know.

That open road gives us life,

IT blossoms in our minds.

Seldom do we ever shake,

Dear feelings that do not bind.

So, laugh my friends as our engines roar,

Along each passing mile,

And raise your head up to the sky,

And share with me your smile.”

By Frosty Wooldridge while on the road

somewhere in America.

www.frostywooldridge.com "MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURE TO ALASKA: INTO THE WIND" may be found at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com